The List Nobody Has Read

Apple is making it harder to grant the Mac permission that lets an app read everything — files, mail, messages, browsing history. It gave no date and named no version, so there is nothing to schedule. There is a list to read, and most people never have.

On October 2, Apple told developers it is tightening Full Disk Access on the Mac. That is the single permission that lets an app read everything on a machine. The notice is three paragraphs long and unusually blunt for Apple. It says some developers are using the permission "in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems — including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history — without users' full knowledge and understanding." Going forward, granting it will take "very explicit user action." Our interest, and it cuts against us: some of what you are about to find on that list is ours. Backup and monitoring tools need this permission to do their job. So an audit of that list is partly an audit of what your IT company installed on your machines, including us. The technical part — you can skip this box Apple Developer News, "Updates to Full Disk Access in macOS," published October 2, 2026. Apple's stated position, quoted in full in the relevant part: "Full Disk Access largely sidesteps these controls in order to allow backup apps to function properly on the Mac. Some developers are using Full Disk Access in ways that could put users at risk, exposing everything on their systems—including files, mail, messages, and even browsing history—without users' full knowledge and understanding. For communication apps, this can also compromise the privacy of the people users are communicating with." And: "Going forward, we will introduce additional controls to ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action. Addressing this is critical. As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially." Apple names no macOS version, no release and no date — the post says only "going forward." It describes no required action for developers or administrators, and does not say what the additional controls will be. What that actually means Full Disk Access is one switch, and it is all or nothing. macOS normally asks an app for narrow permissions — the microphone, one folder. This permission skips that and hands over the lot. It exists for a good reason. Backup software has to read everything, or it is not a backup. Apple says so itself. The problem is everything else that asked for it. Apple's complaint is about apps that got the switch for one purpose and used it to read mail and messages, with users not really understanding what they had agreed to. And the reason Apple is moving now is the part worth reading twice. Its words: "As AI agents become increasingly capable and autonomous, the risks associated with this level of access will grow substantially." The permission did not change. What changed is that software with that permission can now act on what it reads rather than just storing it. There is no deadline here, and that is worth saying plainly Apple gave no date and named no version of macOS. Nothing arrives on a Tuesday. If you are waiting for something to go wrong before you look, nothing will. What to do, and it is five minutes a machine On each Mac: System Settings, then Privacy and Security, then Full Disk Access. Most people have never opened it. Read it and ask one question of each entry: do I know why this needs to read everything? Backup, yes. A note-taking app, an AI assistant, a browser helper, something installed for a project in 2023 — those are the ones to ask about. Do not switch anything off on a machine we manage. Send us the list instead. This is the honest version of our own disclosure above: some of what looks like stray software with too much access is monitoring and backup you are paying for, and removing it makes you less safe rather than more. Rolling out an AI assistant that works across your files? This is the permission to ask about before it is installed. That question is much easier to ask while somebody is still selling you something.